Green Organic Juice Bar, 18th & California Street, Adams Morgan - Closed :-(

[DonRocks]

Shame on everybody in the world for not holding me at gunpoint and forcing me to go here sooner.

Finally, I have found THE PERFECT SMOOTHIE in Washington, DC. I ordered the Cucumber Melon ($8 for 16 ounces) and raised an eyebrow at the price, but it's worth every penny. Dyann told me it would take at least five minutes to make, and she was right. She started off with some Colombo's plain nonfat yogurt, then some mint, and a spoon of thick, unprocessed honey. Then came a whole orange, which she semi-peeled with a knife, and dropped into the blender, uncut, seeds and all. Next was a whole cucumber, again, semi-peeled, and cut into thirds. Then cantaloupe, hand-cut off the rind. The whole thing pureed, then ice dropped into the blender, and the whole thing mixed again.

Voila: the best smoothie I've had in years, and my new favorite mixologist in the area. Awesome. AWESOME!

Cheers,

Rocks.

[zoramargolis]

Those who own a high-powered blender, like a Vita-Mix, can easily make smoothies like this, using whole fruit and ice cubes, at home. In fact, even those who do not cook might consider purchasing one of these blenders and entertain all of the the possibilities of home mixology for quick, healthy meal-substitutes. No heat involved= you're not really cooking, so don't worry. Of course that would mean the occasional trip to a farmers market or a grocery store for ingredients. But at $8 a pop, plus transportation, minus a few more expensive restaurant meals, the cost of a Vita-Mix (admittedly expensive) would be amortized over its many long years of service. P.S. Kids love making and consuming smoothies and milk shakes...

I have no vested or financial interest in promoting Vita-Mix, I just love mine a lot. There are other super-powerful blenders on the market that may be just as good.

[sturm]

I was walking by Mint yesterday and was hungry and thirsty enough to be a-ok with $8 for a smoothie. Got the Aphrodisiac, which had strawberries, ginger, raw honey, almond milk and maca powder. It was excellent. I'd almost go so far as to say it was $8 worth of goodness. If it were $5 or $6, though, I might go get another today, but at that price I'll only go when the need strikes hard. Still... it was yummy.

[zoramargolis]

Got the Aphrodisiac, which had strawberries, ginger, raw honey, almond milk and maca powder.

I've always thought that the term raw honey was sort of like saying evaporated cane juice instead of just calling it sugar. It somehow makes the product sound more natural and healthful. But, other than the most highly distributed commercial products like clover honey that you'd find on a supermarket shelf, honey is a "raw" ie. uncooked product. The only thing that is needed to make honey ready to put in jars, sell and consume is filtering out the odd bits of wax and bee fragments that may get in it while the honey is being extracted from the frames. Honey does not spoil, so it doesn't need to be preserved or canned. After it has been sitting in a jar for a couple of years, it might crystalize and become granular. All that's needed to return it to a liquid state is to set the opened jar in a sauce pan full of water and simmer the water until the honey turns clear, or heat the jar in a microwave for 20-30 seconds, or until it liquifies, but does not boil. When we kept bees in Vermont, we'd fill gallon jars straight out of the extractor (which is like a tall salad spinner) without filtering. The detritus would eventually drift to the top and could be scooped out. I used to work at a restaurant run by Europeans (Dutch and Austrian) near the Marlboro Music Festival. They would buy all of the honey that I was willing to sell, and they especially liked the fact that the bits of wax and bee parts were still in it. Also the fact that it was apple blossom and wildflower honey that tasted absolutely sublime.

I have never heard of maca powder. I'll have to google it.

[TedE]

I have never heard of maca powder. I'll have to google it.

I was assuming that was a typo: matcha powder, a green fruit smoothie staple

[sturm]

I'm pretty sure it was Maca, but definitely not Matcha.

[synaesthesia]

Google works!

[DonRocks]

Maca is becoming trite

[zoramargolis]

http://www.med.nyu.edu/patientcare/library...ChunkIID=104590

Maca is widely marketed for improving male sexual function , female sexual function , and both male fertility and female fertility . However, at present there is no reliable evidence that it actually provides any benefits at all.

Much of the evidence for maca comes from animal studies. In one study in rats, use of maca enhanced male sexual function. 1 Animal studies have had mixed results regarding male and female fertility. 2-7

There are two published human trials on maca, performed by a single research group.

In one small 12-week, double-blind , placebo-controlled study, use of maca at 1,500 mg or 3,000 mg increased male libido. 8 While this was an interesting finding, the study did not report benefits in male sexual function, just desire. Since loss of sexual function (e.g., impotence) is a more common problem in men than loss of sexual desire, these results do not justify the widespread claim that maca has been shown to act like a kind of herbal Viagra.

Another small study found that 4 months of maca use increased sperm count and sperm function. 9 Unfortunately, this study failed to use a control group, and for this reason its results are essentially meaningless. (For more information on why studies must use a control group, see Why Does This Database Rely on Double-blind Studies? )

There are no human trials on maca for female fertility or female sexual function.

[DonRocks]

Maca is widely marketed for improving male sexual function ...

Much of the evidence for maca comes from animal studies.

There was a study done on macaque.

[qwertyy]

Maca is widely marketed for improving ... female sexual function

Thirty years ago, I think Macca was shown to do that too.

[MBK]

I have bad news - this juice bar has closed, to make room for Mint Spa to have a Pilates studio. Which is too bad, I was looking forward to trying one of these smoothies Don raves about. Oh well.